Lazy Dungeon Master — Chapter 207

Magic Tools Shopping

The weather that day was great.
Nayuta and Setsuna had a request for Rokuko and I, so we met with them.
I was using [Super Transformation] while we met with them just in case. It’s pretty cowardly even for me, but oh well. My life’s important. I couldn’t sleep anymore if I’m dead. I don’t accept death as sleep.
Rokuko was defenseless, so I’ll be a meatshield in case of an emergency. I basically have an extra life due to [Super Transformation] after all.

“Rokuko-sama, Village Chief-san. Today’s our day off… but could we sell stuff to adventurers in the dining room!?”

Setsuna spoke with a rather energetic voice. It’s not her work hours right now, so she’s in her gym outfit.

“Sure? I don’t really mind, Kehma?”
“Wait wait Rokuko. Let’s see what you want to sell first. What is it?”
“It’s stuff that Nayuta made through alchemy. We were thinking about what we could use for the Hero’s information fees, so we wanted to earn some change.”

Nayuta’s alchemy, huh? In this world, alchemy means using tools to carve magic formations and making magic tools. Selling magic tools directly is rather lucrative.

“Could I buy that gun from earlier for a gold coin?”
“Nn? Huh? What should I do Nayuta, sell it?”
“That bang banger eh… hmmm, I don’t really want to sell an unfinished product though.”
“Wouldn’t it be alright if it was as a toy?”
“… Let me think about it please. I’ll sell it if we don’t sell much this time.”

Honestly, it’d just be a toy even if I bought it, so it’s perfect. Besides, me offering a gold coin for it’s nothing but indulging in something interesting. It might even give me something good and it’s not like I’m lacking in money either.

“More importantly what are you selling specifically? Show me, show me.”
“Various things, Owner. Take this for example, a Smoke Ball. Smoke billows out of it when it is struck against the ground, producing a smokescreen. It is quite cheap at just one silver!”

Oh, a disposable smokescreen for 10,000 Yen? It looks pretty small, around the size of a ping pong ball.
Rather, why are you speaking to her so civilly, Nayuta? Eh, is it that? The polite language given only to your employer? Do you not recognize me as your employer?

“Isn’t a silver coin for a disposable item a bit expensive?”
“… Umm, the conditions needed for combining things into this for the smokescreen are pretty strict. To the point that it’d be good if Onee-chan successfully makes one out of ten tries. The wind magic formation that causes the smokescreen is hard. But it’s really useful for when you need to escape from an enemy. Buying your life for a single silver is cheap right?”

Well, buying your life for a single silver is pretty cheap, yeah.

“So, does it work against Golems?”
“Yep. There’s bone dust with magical power in it mixed into the Smoke Balls in order to deal with monsters that can perceive things through magic, like Golems. There’s a deodorizing effect to deal with smells as well, so it’s usable in most cases.”

So it’s like chaff? It really is useful, seeing as it can be used in so many situations. [1]

“There is also this Water Ball. Well, it is similar to a jug magic tool in that it can replenish your water. Water comes out from the hole when you press this button. You could put it in a cup or drink it directly.”
“Hey, have you figured out a price for this one?”
“Yes… it is a striking five silver coins!”

By the way, a jug magic tool is around three silver. And she’s back to speaking politely for Rokuko yet again.

“That’s pretty expensive.”
“It’s because making so small is hard. But it being this small makes it convenient since it won’t keep you from bringing other luggage. We have a flask-type as well, but it’s four silver.”

It’s also about the size of a ping pong ball. I guess it is pretty small comparatively? The flask-type would also be convenient given a suitable situation.

“There is also this Fire Ball, meant for offensive uses. It will turn into a ball of fire three seconds after pressing the button. This one is one silver for three. It is a magical fire, so it is effective against ghost-types as well.”

A timed ignition device… that seriously is convenient. It could even be a trump card for warriors that can’t use magic.
It’d be meaningless for me since I can use magic, but maybe I should give buying it a shot?

“There is also this Quiver Ball, it can be used to give massages. When you press this button here, you can place it against your shoulders. It feels quite refreshing. I was inspired by the massage chair here and made it.”
“Heeh, its pink color is so cute!”
“I am greatly happy that it pleases you, Owner. Ah, this one is three silver coins.”

“Huhuhu, did you notice? This is the concept of having a standard, improving its usability through keeping the sizes equal. You can attach five of your preferred balls onto this Ball Holder—sold separately! Their different colors make them easily distinguishable. I’ll throw in a free holder if you buy ten balls now!”
“Hoooh. You’ve thought a bit about this.”

It’s just like those mail-order sales commercials.

“There’s even more too! This Sand Ball can produce white and black sand. It is good for taking notes on the floor when you need to puzzle your way through a riddle. This Breath Ball can be used for breathing underwater. You could even use it in places where the air is thin, like mountains. In addition to those, there’s this Sweet Ball. It tastes sweet when you lick it. However, as it isn’t as though it will fill your stomach, it is only at most recommended to use it by supplementing your emergency food rations. Or perhaps you have a sweet tooth and don’t want to grow fat? These are my works of art!”

With that, she took out various balls of different colors.
They were interesting, so I decided to buy one of each. I’m earning enough to make this kind of shopping possible, I even got two holders as a bonus.

“Well, they look like they’ll sell well. That Sweet Ball in particular. It’d be amusing if it had other tastes in it as well though.”
“This one’s an original I came across while researching magic formations after all. When Onee-chan was licking the plate I’d carved a magic formation into, I thought she’d finally gone crazy…”
“Hey! You owe your super find to me!”
“In truth, this one is the best seller. Thanks, Onee-chan.”

When I tried licking it, it was faint, but it certainly was sweet.
Seeing as how this world puts a huge price on sweetness, I’m convinced that this sells well.

“Kehma, let me try it.”
“Yeah, here.”

I tossed the Sweet Ball I licked over to her… Ah, Rokuko turned red. Right. So this is the ‘indirect kiss’ huh.

“Alright, hand it back here for a moment.”
“I refuse! It’s mine!”
“But I’m the one that bought it…”
“You bought it with the inn’s money, so it’s mine.”

So that’s what she’s going with… Well, she looks happy for some reason, so I guess it’s fine?

“Huhuhu, Owner really is on good terms with Village Chief-san. So, Owner, I’d like to show you something to you alone…”
“Hoh… let’s do it!”
“Oi, don’t go alone.”
“It’s alright, we can trust Nayuta. It’s okay if you leave!”

And now Rokuko’s 100% ensnared. How the heck…

“But right now I’m also acting as Rokuko’s guard. I can’t leave Rokuko defenseless.”
“It’d be nice if we could say that our employer can trust us… Right now, we’re also adventurers that are employed by Owner. It’ll be alright since we’re there, right?”
“Employees and guards are different roles.”
“Huhun, I understand that you’re worried about your partner, but his it women’s talk for women. Could you not show restraint? Well, in this case is…”
“T-that’s…! Un, Kehma, it’s alright. If you have to, call for Ichika okay?”
“… Oh well then.”

“There is also this Quiver Ball, it can be used to give massages. When you press this button here, you can place it against your shoulders. It feels quite refreshing. I was inspired by the massage chair here and made it.”
“Heeh, its pink color is so cute!”
^- a “massage ball”; a PINK “massage ball”. While it seems to lack the dial switch for intensity, that’s clearly not your regular massage tool but a certain kind of adult toy, which at least in Japan it’s either ball- or pill-shaped, pink in colour and contains a motor inside to provide vibration. How bold. And how courteous (or lack of sexy knowledge, seemingly weird in a japanese teen) of Keima to not point it out even to himself.

That’s why I gave two options: either he knows but is tactful like the perfect gentleman he is, or he doesn’t know because like a perfect gentleman he doesn’t frequent the circles that would teach that, like a perfect gentleman he has a leg fetish so devices not meant for legs fall oputside his expertise and like a perfect gentleman he slept through all sex ed lessons.

First thought when I read about the first couple of balls was… NINJA! BE A NINJA!!!

“I handed the Sweet Ball I licked over to her”
words he used are closer to
“I lightly tossed the Sweet Ball I licked over to her”
He was treating it rather casually.

“So it happened huh”
“そうきたか。”
“So that is the approach you are going to take.”

Not sure if I can clearly explain it beyond the translation I gave. Basically, of all the methods she could have used to claim the Sweet Ball he had licked, Rokuko went with the “well you used my money so this is mine” approach. She also could have used “You gave it to me so it’s mine now” or “what’s yours is mine and what’s mine is also mine” or some other excuse to claim it. Rokuko used one of the fairly standard (in stories) lines to lay claim to what she wanted.

Changed handed to tossed, but leaving out the “lightly”. Using ‘lightly’ to modify verbs directly feels Engrish to me (possibly because it’s done too often in MTL…)
—–
Was actually talking with a few other TLs about そうきたか. I sorta ran into a wall with it because while sure, I can understand it, my brain wasn’t really letting me put it into English. The closest I was coming up with was “So it arrived huh”—a dumbed down version of the usual translation of it according to a few people on JP Yahoo–and what I put here.

そうきたか is one of those lines that end up requiring a lot more English to get the meaning across. Those times you come across 3-5 kana lines that require a paragraph to translate always leave me a little bothered, like, “why can’t i think of a shorter way to type that..”. Your choice will work fine.

Lightly tossing something is perfectly fine. The difference between tossing something and lightly tossing something is the difference between tossing it overhand and underhand. Comes down to a difference in speed and expected ease of catching the object. Although tossing something refers to lightly throwing it is possible to make it an even lighter action. It could just be the way I think of the actions though.

[
“There is also this Quiver Ball, it can be used to give massages. When you press this button here, you can place it against your shoulders. It feels quite refreshing. I was inspired by the massage chair here and made it.”
“Heeh, its pink color is so cute!”
“I am greatly happy that it pleases you, Owner. Ah, this one is three silver coins.”

This one’s also ping pong ball sized.
]

…So… A vibrating pink ping pong ball huh… I WONDER if there is SOMETHING like that in this world that’s used for very DIFFERENT “purposes”… nah